Invictus Does Mandela Justice

One person's 'enthralling' is another person's boring

(NEWSER) - Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon … what’s not to like about Hereafter? But not all the critics are overly impressed with this spiritual film that touches on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 London subway bombings:

• “The mostly mesmerizing but finally flawed film” mostly “plays like a smart and stylish thriller,” writes Michael O'Sullivan in the Washington Post . But the promise of three separate and “artfully-woven” plotlines coming together for “a collision—or at least a fusion,” is never realized. “The big payoff fizzles.”
• Mick LaSalle begs to differ: This is one of Eastwood’s best, he writes in the San Francisco Chronicle . “Every shot communicates something precise, whether it's plot detail or a thought or emotion.” The result is a “sympathetic and all-encompassing understanding of the pain and grandeur of life on earth.”

Hollywood legend says Eastwood made role a snap

(NEWSER) - When you’ve had the career Morgan Freeman’s had, “there aren’t many challenges in making movies,” the venerable actor tells Vogue. But he found one: Freeman’s taking on the role of Nelson Mandela in a big-budget biopic. “You've got to do this without embarrassing yourself, your audience, and especially Madiba,” he says. “There are pitfalls. But I am going to be working with Clint.” More»

Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet star in Steven Soderbergh film

(NEWSER) - Critics applaud Steven Soderbergh’s latest effort, Contagion, a deeply disturbing imagining of a global pandemic that features an all-star cast (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne):

• It’s “easily the scariest of the disaster films” since 9/11, writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post . What’s more, it “takes great pains to present its situations realistically, and includes a lot of intelligent speculation about what sort of political, economic, and ethical questions would be raised by such a disaster.”

Daughters, mother join her on South African trip

(NEWSER) - Arriving in South Africa today, Michelle Obama met Nelson Mandela for the first time and said her husband was unhappy he couldn’t join them. “Michelle Obama certainly convinced the dignitaries she is excited to be here, and said her husband is 'pouty' that he isn't,” tweeted a journalist at a South African newspaper. Michelle Obama’s daughters, mother, niece, and nephew were there, however, to meet with Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel. More»

Ntshongwana claimed to be avenging daughter's rape

(NEWSER) - A retired South African rugby star who allegedly went on a killing spree with an axe in one hand and a Bible in the other has been charged with three murders. Joseph Ntshongwana claimed to be taking revenge on a gang that raped his daughter and infected her with HIV, according to a victim who narrowly escaped with his life. Authorities, however, say they've established that there was no rape and the former Blue Bulls player doesn't even have a daughter, the Australian reports. His lawyers argue that he is mentally unfit to stand trial. More»